A few things have appeared from various sources lately resurrecting the old discussion of whether Open Source software is “safe” or “right” for mainstream adoption. Whilst many of us consider this issue to have been dealt with long ago, there still seem to be some out there who want the debate to continue.

Intel's upcoming 65nm, dual-core Xeon DP processor, 'Dempsey', is fast, but its performance comes at the cost of some serious power consumption, a pre-production test using the chip giant's 'Bensley' platform has shown.

Every development methodology worth its salt pays regard to build management, from the most nimble of agile processes to the tools-heavy methodologies that attach the tag of software configuration management (SCM) to the task of managing the build and the deployment of software.

Toucan - the consumer telco of comms and technology outfit IDT Corp - has started offering its phone service via a single bill following Ofcom's decision yesterday to give the thumbs up to Wholesale Line Rental (WLR).

Fed up with having to squint at movies, photos, emails and text messages on your mobile's microscopic display? Then Orange France is offering the full heads-up experience, courtesy of its "video glasses".

There's something indefinable about the Christmas season that makes the whole workplace seem a little brighter. It could be the impending arrival of relatives, the promise of presents or just the knowledge that for a short space of time you're free of the horrors of the workplace. Whatever it is, the workplace becomes a much nicer place to work and people often put aside their petty differences in the spirit of goodwill.

UK system builder Rock has won the race to ship the first notebook based on an AMD dual-core processor. While the company was understandably keen to trumpet its achievement - it sent The Register at least five copies of a press release on the matter - we can also confirm that a number of readers received their Rocks early yesterday morning.

Arch rivals Google and Microsoft have combined with Sun to fund an academic research lab which aims to pioneer the development of new approaches to software development. The three companies will provide $7.5m over five years to fund research at the Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed systems laboratory, or the RAD Lab, at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Government is moving ahead with plans to establish a centralised national register of voters, together with central checking and verification of the data held on electoral registers. The system, to be implemented in the form of CORE (Co-ordinated Online Record of Elector) schemes, is intended to be brought in via the Electoral Administration Bill currently before Parliament, and is subject to a consultation process ending on 7th March.

We have a saying down here at Vulture Central which is oft repeated by battle-hardened hacks dispensing wisdom to young whippersnappers in the manner of that old boy sitting by a roaring log fire handing his grandson a Werther's Original: you're not a proper Reg hack until you have been well and truly roasted by enraged readers with steam coming out of their ears.

HM Revenue & Customs estimates crooks have made off with at least £15m after defrauding the tax credit system by making false claims in the name of job centre workers. The estimate came when HM Revenue & Customs executive director David Varney appeared before the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on Thursday to answers questions from MPs over an attack on the revenue which is far worse than first suspected.

The 5600 is around 30g heavier than its predecessor, weight that's in no way a burden but arises from the larger - but still small by today's standards - 1.8in colour screen. It's bright and crisp though, so is a cinch to use and it even comes with a fast, 'LCD brighten' button for fast switching if you suddenly find yourself in the spotlight - or in bright sunshine.

With the announcement last week by IBM, BEA, Oracle, SAP, Siebel, IONA and others that they are collaborating to develop a language neutral programming model tuned to the needs of SOA initiatives, it looks like a little more lustre has rubbed off J2EE. But it also looks a little like something deeper could be going on: the biggest vendors are shifting their attention to a wider market opportunity. Can they avoid the mistakes of J2EE?

Who would have believed that twitchy paranoiacs are actually onto something? Incredibly, they are: the New York Times has revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on American citizens.

Increased corporate spending for compliance and corporate governance is having a significant impact on IT budgets, says Gartner, and financial compliance management spending will swallow 10–15 per cent of IT budgets in 2006, up from less than 5 per cent in 2004.